Are the supplements you’re taking helping or harming you? We generally believe that supplements (vitamins, minerals, and herbs) can only provide benefits, but that all depends on several factors present in the body. When we consider these other factors, we see that there are times when they can help, harm, or not do enough.
It is the complexity of the body and its physiology, genes, functions, and multiple pathways that determines the answer to this question. A simple answer is not always the best one. Knowing when and when not to take supplements requires more knowledge than just options, promotional ads, or even biased medical perspectives.
Helping you?
Supplements have had beneficial effects that have improved the lives of millions and millions of people worldwide. Herbal remedies have been around thousands of years. Vitamins as a supplement have been around over 110 years. The benefits of taking supplements can be substantial and backed by science.
Vitamins, minerals and herbs can all exert beneficial effects in all tissues and cells. They provide benefits because they are essential to the function of every cell of the body. Having enough of these to meet the needs of the body can be the difference between health and disease.
Vitamins are available in basic or activated forms. Folic acid (Vitamin B9), for instance, is the basic form and MTHF (Methylfolate) is the activated form. Taking the activated form can be more beneficial in many instances, as it bypasses issues with converting the basic form into an active form that is ready for the body to use.
Folic acid is vital and essential to the function of every cell. It plays a vital role in many cellular functions including the assembly of DNA, as well as the health of a pregnancy.
If there is a need in the body’s cells and tissues for a vitamin or mineral or herb, taking these can support health and longevity. There are instances however, when that may not be the case.
Harming you?
Supplements don’t typically cause harm, but there are definitely situations when they can stress the body and times when they may contribute to imbalances in the body that can be supporting various conditions and even disease processes.
If we consider once again, the B vitamin Folic acid, we can see where taking it may be problematic. If someone has struggles with certain genetic detoxification pathways in the body, causing a reduced or inability to properly process toxins, there can be problems caused by taking folic acid. Folic acid can make the pathway function faster and lead to an excessive build-up of toxins that makes someone sicker.
Another example would be the antioxidant, glutathione. Glutathione is the most abundant antioxidant in the body and people who live to be over 100 years old have often been found to have high glutathione levels. It is considered to be the “Master” or “Mother” of all antioxidants in the body.
Glutathione is made up of 3 amino acids that are assembled in a pathway that uses certain nutrient cofactors to create glutathione. Once it is assembled and used by the body to neutralize toxins and help other pathways function, it is broken down and recycled. If the genetic pathway that recycles glutathione doesn’t function properly, it may contribute to problems in the body, not neutralize them. In this instance, glutathione has to be given sparingly.
Another consideration is that glutathione and other antioxidants may be used by cancer cells to help the cells live longer. That being said, glutathione can play a very important role in the body preventing and fighting off cancer. Knowing when and how much of any supplement to use is very important.
These are just a couple of examples. Knowing ones genetics, microbiome make-up, toxin burden, nutrient deficiencies, and more leads to the best results.
Not doing enough?
The B vitamin Biotin requires a transporter to go from the intestinal tract into the blood stream. With functional genetic testing, we can see if there might be problems with this transport system and therefore a need for higher amounts of biotin.
Biotin has been linked to over 2000 Biotin-dependent genes, so a deficiency can have wide-spread affects.
Additionally, the bacteria in the intestinal tract produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) that reduce inflammation not only in the intestinal tract, but throughout the body. These bacteria convert fibers and sugars in the diet into the SCFA and if a high amount of SCFA are being produced or someone is taking a SCFA supplement such as Butyrate, it can use up the available biotin and create lower levels in the blood and tissues.
Certain bacteria in the microbiome can also help to create biotin. If these bacteria are reduced, that can further reduce the available biotin. Knowing the make-up of each person’s microbiome through special stool test allows us to assess this possibility. The bacteria in the intestinal tract affect all the cells of the body.
Short path to nowhere
While it seems like taking a supplement would be an easy choice, it can actually be quite complex. Choosing to take a supplement is usually not going to be a risky choice. For the most part, without knowing what’s going on in the body, it may help, or do very little. At worst, it may just be spending a lot of money on something that does little or nothing.
The right choice
If you truly have a need, then you’ll need more information to make the right choice. At a minimum, having a Functional Genomic test, a Stool test, and a NutraEval test provides a very large amount of information that can help to discover the best options.
It’s not just the test themselves individually, but the integrated assessments between them.
If there are serious issues, then adding an Ionomic test for mineral analysis and a Total Toxin Burden for a wide variety of common toxins that affect everything in the body is essential.
As a part of our Curing the Incurables program, we have assembled the best test panels to provide us with the most information to help those who need to make the best choices in their quest for health.
The future of healthcare
The future of healthcare will incorporate all of these test panels. Already, companies are raising hundreds of millions of dollars to create tests that utilize only three of the five mentioned tests. Estimated costs for three tests are $30,000-$50,000 per person. It doesn’t have to cost this much and there’s no reason to wait until then. Our MultiOmics test panels provide the same solution now.
I don’t think of people as being incurable, only as being in need of the right options and choices to more clearly define the correct path to health.
Today’s healthcare is filled with poorly defined recommendations, bias, minimal face-to-face time with patients, and a general lack of willingness to use the best of what science is providing right now.
It doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t need to be that way. There are better choices.
Dr. Jeffrey S. McCombs, DC, is founder of the McCombs Center for Health, the Candida Plan, the Candida Library, and author of Lifeforce, The Everything Candida Book, and The Everything Guide to Autoimmune Diets. Check out our podcast, Candida Diet Tips Recipes, and Insights on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Buzzsprout, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Alexa Flash Briefings. Phone: (888) 236-7780.
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